The Only Way To Win The War
by Brightpath2
Summary: Post Infinity War. SPOILERS - don't read if you haven't seen the movie! Only one way to beat Thanos. All other ways led to failure. But was this the way to win, or was this one of the failed paths? There is not comfort in what feels like the biggest defeat. There is no relief to the pain of losing those you love. Can there be hope that Strange knew what he was doing all along?


**This will not be a very long fic. I don't have time to dedicate to fanfiction, as I have a novel that I am working on. But Infinity War was a sufficiently traumatic movie that it made me want to write something.**

 **That being said SPOILERS WILL BE BEYOND THIS POINT. If you have not yet seen Infinity War, do not read this. If you have, read it and weep and share the pain.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any part of the MCU. If I did, I wouldn't have any student loans.**

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Chapter 1

One of the things that most defines a person is how they react in a crisis.

Steve Rogers wanted to stay where he was, kneeling on the ground by Vision's gray corpse, and weep. Vision, dead. Wanda, Sam, Bucky, gone, faded away like ash. T'Challa, gone as well. The wailing that came from the battlefield signified an even greater loss.

But Captain America had a duty, and that duty didn't stop when he was in pain.

The survivors were terrifyingly few. Thor, Natasha, Rhodey, Banner, Okoye. The strange raccoon that had come with Thor. In the wake of T'Challa's death, Wakanda was nearly in ruins. Shuri was alive, but injured from the attack on the palace, unable to give commands. Okoye and M'Baku took charge, and soon a semblance of order was established. Rescue the wounded, contact the rest of the world, ensure Wakanda's security.

Steve spent hours blindly helping recover the wounded from the battlefield, ignoring the way his own body ached, how his heart felt as though it was split in two. Nat was sent in for medical attention, Rhodey with her. The others combed the field for hours, until the only things left were the bodies of the wicked creatures they'd fought, and the ashes of their vanished friends.

Now, Steve paced the width of a small room. Banner sat silent on the floor, leaning against a window. Thor was methodically cleaning his new weapon, his face expressionless. The raccoon huddled in a corner, from which the occasional sniff could be heard. Steve didn't ask questions – Thor had told him already that the strange tree being had dissolved.

"Is there anyone we can call?" Thor said. He was the first one to speak since they'd come here. "Any other heroes you've enlisted since I left?"

Ant-man. Hawkeye. Were they ashes as well?

"We can try," Steve said.

"Do you have a way to contact planets outside of earth?" The raccoon asked with sudden interest. "I have friends out there that I need to check on."

"If Tony were here, I'd say yes," Banner said. The heavy silence returned, and Steve closed his eyes, drawing in a painful breath. Tony. He hadn't had time to consider what had happened to Tony since the man went missing. He was likely dead, since Thanos clearly had the Time Stone. Was Tony ashes, or had he been killed before the terrifying snap of the fingers?

Maybe they would never know.

"I'm going to find a functional telephone," Steve said. Then he left the room, hoping that someone would answer.

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* * *

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Clint's heart froze the moment that his wife and children faded away before his eyes.

He knew about the battle, sure. It wasn't something you could miss, what with every station focused on the fire that seemed to be raining down from space again. But he'd expected everyone to take care of it. If they really needed his help, they would call, and yeah, he wasn't supposed to do the hero thing right now, but he would go.

Instead, he watched, unable to do anything, as his wife and children vanished.

Within hours he was on his way to Wakanda. The news told him that's where the Avengers were. Chaos was spreading as more people were turned to dust and ashes, but Clint needed to reach his team and make them tell him exactly what had happened.

And if Nat wasn't there, then so help him, everyone who stood in the way of his revenge would find an arrow between their eyes.

He'd just barely hijacked a small plane when he received the call. An unfamiliar number, but that didn't matter much when the world was descending into hell.

"Who is this?" Clint asked.

"Thank God," was the immediate response.

"Cap?" Clint said. A wave of relief came then. "Are you alright? Is Nat there? Who made it?

"Rhodey, Nat, Thor, Banner and I are all fine."

Clint paused for a moment. Wait, Thor and Banner were back? "When did the green monster and the god of thunder return?"

Cap laughed, and oh, it was so good to hear. Someone was alive and waiting for him. The team wasn't all gone. "This week," Cap said. "Banner was in New York when Tony went missing, and Thor came right down from the sky this afternoon."

There were names missing from the list, Clint realized. "Wanda?" He asked quietly. No, not her, too.

"Gone," Cap said, affirming Clint's fears. "Where are you?"

"I'm in a plane headed to Wakanda," Clint said. "My family…"

Nothing more needed to be said, really.

"We'll be waiting," Cap said grimly. "Have you been in contact with anyone else? Any old Shield agents, Fury?"

"No one."

A heavy silence fell. To be honest, Clint's first thought had been Nat, and not much followed. He hadn't heard from Fury for months.

"ETA?" Cap asked.

"Five hours," Clint said. "I'll see you on the other side of the ocean."

"Be safe."

The phone went silent. If there was any order Cap had given that Clint was absolutely determined to follow, it was this one. Because if he wasn't safe, if he didn't help to fix this problem, then he would never see his wife and children again, and that was entirely unacceptable.

Because if they were gone, then there was no point in living.

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* * *

.

Nebula had a few major problems with her situation. First, Gamora was dead. And not just faded into ash, really dead. Killed by Thanos. Killed by their self-proclaimed Father. Ha! Some Father.

Second problem? The one surviving earthling.

The odds were impressively bad. Out of their seven person team, Nebula and one beaten earthling were the only survivors. Perhaps some other allies had been spared, but out of the Guardians, the only ones who could possibly be alive were the rat and the walking twig. Ugh. What an annoyance.

And this earthling was, well, almost dead. He'd watched his companions die, watched the young one vanish in a ridiculously dramatic plea for life. Then, before they could get anything done, he just collapsed.

It was the stab wound, of that, Nebula was certain.

Now, she was an android, and far stronger than any of the puny little earthlings, but she'd also spent the last few weeks being nearly torn apart by Thanos and his machines. Carrying the earthling was, though she would never tell anyone, far more difficult than she expected. His dead weight and the severity of his injuries meant that she had to be careful.

Luckily, the Milano wasn't completely trashed.

But the third problem was, Nebula didn't know where to go. Gamora was gone. Thanos could be anywhere.

Well, there was an earthling in the back of the ship. His wound needed attention, but she wasn't the right person to give it. Earth was far, but the ship could make it. And Nebula never was one for doing anything only halfway.

Earth it was then.

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* * *

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Tony regretted waking up.

For a moment, the pain was soothing, a reminder that he was still alive. That was at least partially a good thing, even with a massive stab wound in his side, with just the slightest thread holding him together, he was alive.

But then he remembered. And the pain of remembering was not soothing at all. The insect girl, gone. The rock man, gone. Mr. Lord, gone.

Strange, gone.

Peter.

Gone.

It was all Tony's fault. Maybe if he had never approached Peter Parker, the boy would be safe on earth right now.

But no. Tony could still feel the slight weight of the boy in his arms, and the filthy layer of ash that coated his hands. Fitting. In a way, Peter's blood really was on his hands. Morbid as that was, it was true. Peter could have lived. He could have been with May. It was Tony's fault.

"Unless I'm wrong, you still need to breathe to live."

Tony's eyes flew open. He didn't try and sit up, knowing immediately that it would be a bad idea. The blue woman was there, the one who had joined in the battle. She'd known Quill and the others, with a strange animosity between them that hadn't stopped them from fighting alongside each other with relative ease.

"Breathing is for the weak," Tony said. His voice sounded like it had been scraped raw.

The blue woman scoffed, but didn't say anything.

"Where are we?" Tony asked, closing his eyes once more. For now he felt awake, although the pain from his injuries was making itself known in a most unpleasant way.

"On the Milano, heading for earth."

Earth. Home. Tony swallowed.

"I assume that the Milano is a ship," he said, cracking one eye open, and breathing a sigh of relief and the woman's nod. "Autopilot?" Another nod. "Are communications possible?"

The woman hesitated for a second. "They may be operational," she said. "I hadn't thought to check."

So she had no one left. It made sense. For all Tony knew, he was the only Avenger left in the entire universe. It would be fitting, in a way. He was the first to be approached by Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. And he would be the last Avenger. Of course, maybe Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and the others, maybe they were alive.

It just wouldn't do any good to hope.

But he had to try anyway.

"Try and contact earth," Tony said. He listed off several codes for her to try, and then watched as she moved to one of the many strange blinking surfaces that filled the ship. Maybe now would be a good time to pass out again, before the codes failed. One for home, where Pepper and Happy would be. One for HQ. One for Wakanda. One specifically for Captain America.

Who lived, and who was dust?

The first code failed, and Tony tried very hard not to think that it meant that Pepper was gone, but what else could it mean? Friday was silent, damaged as she was. The second code also went without response.

Tony closed his eyes and wept, fading into unconsciousness before the next code could break him.


End file.
